Building trust in the age of intelligent finance

For Muhammad Rameez Feroz, a financial professional who has spent more than a decade connecting institutions across Pakistan and China, illicit finance within global trade remains one of the most pressing obstacles to sustainable economic growth.

"Where experience meets innovation lies the key to sustainable transparency," Feroz said.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, more than $2.2 trillion is laundered worldwide each year, with trade-based schemes representing a major share.

The World Bank estimates that less than 1 percent of illicit flows are successfully intercepted.

More than 90 percent of trade-based money laundering cases involve invoice manipulation, according to the Financial Action Task Force, while the Asian Development Bank cites a $1.5 trillion trade-finance gap aggravated by compliance complexity.

In Feroz's eyes, these figures highlight the need to bridge experience and technology to restore trust.

Feroz observed that fragmented data across institutions often hides critical context.

"Whether handling remittances or facilitating trade transactions," he noted, "key information is lost between systems."

He believed that relying on hands-on experience can guide smarter technological solutions and strengthen financial ecosystems.

Feroz envisioned compliance technologies that complement existing systems instead of replacing them.

Through ecosystem mapping and cross-jurisdiction pattern recognition, financial institutions could reduce false positives and expose hidden risks while maintaining operational continuity.

Having worked across multiple jurisdictions, Feroz spotted value in blending diverse regulatory strengths.

"The advancements in Chinese digital-finance infrastructure and Western analytical frameworks are complementary," he said.

Developing interoperability layers could enable regulators to collaborate more effectively without compromising sovereignty.

Even as artificial intelligence becomes more capable, Feroz emphasized that human oversight remains irreplaceable.

"Technology handles scale, humans provide context," he added.

Feroz argued that the goal of innovation should be to empower professionals, not replace them.